The Cambridge Companion to Modern Indian Culture

by Vasudha Dalmia (Editor), Rashmi Sadana (Editor)

Overview

India is changing at a rapid pace as it continues to move from its colonial past to its globalised future. This Companion offers a framework for understanding that change, and how modern cultural forms have emerged out of very different histories and traditions. The book provides accounts of literature, theatre, film, modern and popular art, music, television and food; it also explores in detail social divisions, customs, communications and daily life. In a series of engaging, erudite and occasionally moving essays the contributors, drawn from a variety of disciplines, examine not merely what constitutes modern Indian culture, but just how wide-ranging are the cultures that persist in the regions of India. This volume will help the reader understand the continuities and fissures within Indian culture and some of the conflicts arising from them. Throughout, what comes to the fore is the extraordinary richness and diversity of modern Indian culture.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781139801072
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	04/05/2012
Series:	Cambridge Companions to Culture
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Vasudha Dalmia is Professor of Hindi and Modern South Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.
Rashmi Sadana is Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

Table of Contents

Chronology; Introduction Rashmi Sadana and Vasudha Dalmia; Part I. Cultural Contexts: 1. Scenes of rural change Ann Grodzins Gold; 2. The formation of tribal identities Stuart Blackburn; 3. Food and agriculture Amita Baviskar; 4. Urban forms of religious practice Smriti Srinivas; 5. The politics of caste identities Christophe Jaffrelot; Part II. Cultural Forms: 6. History and representation in the Bengali novel Supriya Chaudhuri; 7. Writing in English Rashmi Sadana; 8. Dalit life histories Debjani Ganguly; 9. Three traditions in modernist art Sonal Khullar; 10. Mass reproduction and the art of the bazaar Kajri Jain; 11. Urban theatre and the turn towards 'folk' Vasudha Dalmia; 12. Aesthetics and politics in popular cinema Ravi S. Vasudevan; 13. Musical genres and national identity Amanda Weidman; 14. Voyeurism and the family on television Amrita Ibrahim; Further reading; Index.

Editorial Reviews

'The Cambridge Companion to Modern Indian Culture would be an excellent addition to a college or university library that supports India studies, cultural studies, anthropology or history departments and a good textbook for a class on Indian culture.' Sue Phelps, Reference Reviews

From the Publisher